Garment including ankle cushion and method of making same

ABSTRACT

A garment is provided including a main body adapted to enclose at least the foot of a wearer, the main body including an ankle portion and a foot portion, and a cushion located at the ankle portion of the main body, wherein the cushion is configured to protect an ankle of the wearer from abrasion caused by a heel of a footwear.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a non-provisional claiming priority to a commonlyowned U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/130,580, filedJun. 2, 2008, of Anwar Hasan, entitled ‘STEP A.K.A. “ANKLE COMFORT”PADS,’ the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference tothe extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to a garment tocover the ankle and a method of making the same. More particularly, thesubject matter relates to an ankle comfort pad that is adapted for theprotection of the ankle from irritation caused by the heel of a shoe orthe like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Garments covering the legs and feet take various forms such as leggings,socks, stockings and tights and other hosiery. These garments serveseveral purposes such as keeping the feet warm, providing comfort to thewearer, keeping the feet clean, and providing style or fashion.Additionally, these garments often help to absorb the sweat in the footand draw it to areas where it can be evaporated. In cold environments,garments such as socks help to retain heat while removing moisture,thereby helping to prevent frostbite. Further-more, hosiery may help toease chafing and irritation between the foot and footwear. Particulartypes of footwear such as dress shoes, hockey skates, ski boots,athletic footwear and high heeled shoes often cause irritation to thewearer where the heel of the footwear digs in and rubs against theankle, despite the use of these garments. This is also a major concernwhen a wearer uses new footwear that is stiff and yet to be broken in.

Thus, a garment that reduces the chafing, irritation or cutting of theskin caused by the heel of footwear would be well received in the art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention, a garment comprises a mainbody adapted to enclose at least the foot of a wearer, the main bodyincluding an ankle portion and a foot portion, and a cushion located atthe ankle portion of the main body, wherein the cushion is configured toprotect an ankle of the wearer from abrasion caused by a heel of afootwear.

According to another aspect of the invention, a garment adapted to beworn over the foot of a wearer comprises a cushion located above a heelportion of the sock, and extending at least partially about an ankleportion of the sock, the cushion configured to provide protection to thewearer from a heel of a footwear.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method of producinga hosiery garment comprises attaching a cushion to an ankle portion ofthe hosiery garment, wherein the cushion is configured to protect anankle of a wearer of the hosiery garment from abrasion caused by a heelof a footwear.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The foregoing and other features and advantages ofthe invention are apparent from the following detailed description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a perspective view of a sock being worn by a wearer andhaving a cushion in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 depicts a perspective view of the sock of FIG. 1 being worn bythe wearer, taken from arrow 2, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 depicts an exploded cutaway view the cushion of the sock of FIG.1, being worn by the wearer, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 depicts a perspective view of the sock of FIG. 1, being worn witha dress shoe by the wearer in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 5 depicts a perspective view of a stocking utilizing the cushionand being worn with a high heeled shoe on a leg of the wearer inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A detailed description of the hereinafter described embodiments of thedisclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way ofexemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.

Referring firstly to FIG. 1, there is shown a sock 10 in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention. The sock 10 is adapted to beworn over at least a foot of a wearer 12, as is generally known in theart. The sock 10 includes a main body 14, having both an ankle portion16 and a foot portion 18. A cushion 20 is located at the ankle portion16 of the main body 14, and extends partially about the ankle portion 16of the sock 10. The cushion 20 is configured to protect the ankle orAchilles heel of the wearer 12 from abrasion and discomfort caused byimpact with a heel 22 of a footwear 24, 26 (as is shown in FIGS. 4-5,described below). The cushion 20 provides additional thickness to thesock 10 at a location, such as the back of the ankle or at the Achillesheel, subjected to increased possibility of chafing, while at the sametime allowing the sock 10 to retain an optimum thickness throughout therest of the main body 14.

Turning to FIG. 2, a rear view of the sock 10 is shown being worn by thewearer 12, taken at arrow 2 of FIG. 1. The cushion 20 is shown having ahorizontal body 28 wrapping partially around the ankle portion 16 from arear side 30 of the sock 10. The horizontal body 28 helps to pad anankle 32 (shown in FIG. 3) of the wearer 12 at the height of the heel 22of footwear 24, 26. Alternatively, the cushion may be referred to as apad, support or insulated portion. In one embodiment, the horizontalbody 28 is between 2 and 5 inches in length. However, the horizontalbody 28 may have any appropriate length. Further, the cushion is shownhaving a vertical lip 34 extending from the horizontal body 28 at leastpartially to a heel corner 36 of the sock 10. The vertical lip 34further protects the ankle 32 of the wearer 12, and provides some leewayfor heels 22 of footwear 24, 26 having different heights. In oneembodiment, the vertical lip is between 1 and 3 inches in length.However, the vertical lip may have any length that would be appropriate.It should be understood that the shape of the cushion 20 is not limitedto this “T” shaped embodiment, however. Further, the top of the “T”, thehorizontal body 28, may be angled in any manner that would beappropriate to protect from the intended footwear to be worn with thesock 10. Cushions having other shapes, such as ovular, triangular orother polygonal shapes are also contemplated.

FIG. 3 depicts an exploded cutaway view the cushion 20 of the sock 10 ofFIG. 1, being worn by the wearer 12. The cushion 20 is held in placebetween the main body 14 and a fabric layer 38 that is sewn into themain body 14 along a seam 40. In alternate embodiments, the cushion 20may be adhered directly into the main body 14 of the sock 10 by sewing,tacking, riveting or any other feasible attachment means such as naturaladhesives, synthetic adhesives, hook and loop fastener, dryingadhesives, contact adhesives and hot or reactive adhesives. Furthermore,the cushion 20 may be made of cotton. It should be understood that thecushion 20 is not limited to cotton, however, and analogous materialswould be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the cushion20 may be made of foam, feathers, polyester, silk, air, linen, gel orother liquid, rubber, synthetic plastic, or water-proof breathablematerial such as Gore-tex® for wicking and removing moisture, whichcauses wear on the skin. Also, the cushion 20 may be a thicker ply ofthe same material as the sock 10, such as two or more times thethickness.

FIG. 4 depicts a perspective view of the sock 10, being worn with adress shoe 24 by the wearer 12 in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. Additionally, FIG. 5 depicts a perspective view of astocking 42 having the cushion 20 and being worn with a high heeled shoe26 by the wearer 12 in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention. In this case, the horizontal body 28 of the cushion 20 isangled downward along the body of the typical high heeled shoe toaccommodate the fact that the wearer's foot is propped up by the heel ofthe shoe 26. As described hereinabove, any angle or shape of the cushionis contemplated by this invention. It should also be understood that thecushion 20 may be configured to protect the wearer 12 from abrasioncaused by the heel 22 of any type of footwear. In addition to the dressshoe 24 and the high heeled shoe 26, the cushion 20 may be configured toprotect from abrasion from a casual shoe, boot, sneaker, tennis shoe,orthopedic shoe, basketball shoe, running shoe, ice skate, athleticcleat, ski boots, cross trainer shoes, sandals and flats. Additionally,it should be understood that the cushion 20 may be similarly applied toany form of hosiery in addition to the sock 10 and the stocking 42. Forexample, the cushion 20 may be applied to a dress sock, casual sock,legging, toe sock, tight, thigh-high sock, or athletic sock.

A further aspect of the present invention includes a method of producinga garment 10 comprising attaching the cushion 20 to the ankle portion 16of the garment 10, wherein the cushion 20 is configured to protect theankle 32 of the wearer 12 of the garment 10 from abrasion caused by theheel 22 of footwear 24, 26. The sewing may further comprise introducingthe cushion 20 to the ankle portion 16 of the garment 10 and sewing,attaching or adhering the cushion 20 to the ankle portion 16 around thecushion 20. Alternately, the method may further comprise introducing thecushion 20 to the ankle portion 16 of the garment 10 and sewing thefabric layer 38 to the ankle portion 16 around the cushion 20.

Elements of the embodiments have been introduced with either thearticles “a” or “an.” The articles are intended to mean that there areone or more of the elements. The terms “including” and “having” andtheir derivatives are intended to be inclusive such that there may beadditional elements other than the elements listed. The conjunction “or”when used with a list of at least two terms is intended to mean any termor combination of terms. The terms “first” and “second” are used todistinguish elements and are not used to denote a particular order.

While the invention has been described in detail in connection with onlya limited number of embodiments, it should be readily understood thatthe invention is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. Rather, theinvention can be modified to incorporate any number of variations,alterations, substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretoforedescribed, but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of theinvention. Additionally, while various embodiments of the invention havebeen described, it is to be understood that aspects of the invention mayinclude only some of the described embodiments. Accordingly, theinvention is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, butis only limited by the scope of the appended claims.

1. A garment comprising: a main body adapted to enclose at least a footof a wearer, the main body including an ankle portion and a footportion; and a cushion located at the ankle portion of the main body,wherein the cushion is configured to protect an ankle of the wearer fromabrasion caused by a heel of a footwear.
 2. The garment of claim 1,wherein the cushion is made of a material selected from the groupconsisting of cotton, foam, feather, polyester, silk, linen, gel, rubberand plastic.
 3. The garment of claim 1, wherein the cushion includes alateral body, the lateral body wrapping partially around the ankleportion from a back side of the ankle portion.
 4. The garment of claim3, wherein the cushion includes a vertical lip, the vertical lipextending from the lateral body at least partially to the heel.
 5. Thegarment of claim 1, wherein the cushion is sewn into the main body ofthe hosiery garment.
 6. The garment of claim 1, wherein the cushion isheld in place between the main body and a fabric layer sewn into themain body.
 7. The garment of claim 1, wherein the cushion is configuredto protect the ankle of the wearer from abrasion caused by the heel of afootwear selected from the group consisting of dress shoes, casualshoes, high heeled shoes, boots, sneakers, tennis shoes, orthopedicshoes, basketball shoes, running shoes, ice skates, athletic cleats, skiboots, cross trainer shoes, sandals, and flats.
 8. The garment of claim1, wherein the garment is a garment selected from the group consistingof dress socks, casual socks, stockings, legging, toe socks, tights,thigh-high socks, and athletic socks.
 9. A garment adapted to be wornover an ankle of a wearer comprising: a cushion located above a heelportion of the sock, and extending at least partially about an ankleportion of the sock, the cushion configured to provide protection to thewearer from a heel of a footwear.
 10. The garment of claim 9, whereinthe cushion further includes a vertical lip, the vertical lip extendingfrom the lateral body at least partially to the heel.
 11. The garment ofclaim 10, wherein the vertical lip provides protection to the wearerfrom a plurality of footwear having a plurality of heel heights.
 12. Thegarment of claim 9, wherein the cushion is made of a material selectedfrom the group consisting of cotton, foam, feather, polyester, silk,linen, gel, rubber and plastic.
 13. The garment of claim 9, wherein thecushion is sewn into the sock.
 14. The garment of claim 9, wherein thecushion is held in place between the sock and a fabric layer sewn intothe sock.
 15. The garment of claim 9, wherein the cushion is configuredto protect the ankle of the wearer from abrasion caused by the heel of afootwear selected from the group consisting of dress shoes, casualshoes, high heeled shoes, boots, sneakers, tennis shoes, orthopedicshoes, basketball shoes, running shoes, ice skates, athletic cleats, skiboots, cross trainer shoes, sandals, and flats.
 16. A method ofproducing a garment, the method comprising: attaching a cushion to anankle portion of the garment, wherein the cushion is configured toprotect an ankle of a wearer of the garment from abrasion caused by aheel of a footwear.
 17. The method of producing a garment of claim 16,wherein the sewing further comprises introducing the cushion to theankle portion of the garment and sewing a fabric layer to the ankleportion around the cushion.
 18. The method of producing a garment ofclaim 16, wherein the method further comprises sewing the cushion to thegarment.